FOO FIGHTERS

“We’re gonna play until they tell us to stop playing,” said Dave Grohl sitting atop a rock-n-roll guitar god throne of his own design. “It’s been a long time. Tonight we’ve got seven years of music to play.”

After some shrill screams of “Are you ready?” from Dave Grohl behind a huge red and black curtain emblazoned with ‘FF‘, the banner seemed to vanish suddenly into thin air and so began Foo Fighters first appearance in Japan in seven years. Immediately diving into “Everlong”, the band showed that they were everything a Friday night headlining act should be. Though Grohl was largely restricted to a seated position for the entire act due to his broken leg, the set was as tight and wild as ever. With all other members in top form, and drummer Taylor Hawkins in a Japanese happi coat, there was little to slow them down as they burned through nearly every big hit in their repertoire. “Monkey Wrench”, “Learn to Fly” and “The Pretender” were scream-laced highlights early in the set.

“I’m gonna tell you a story. Guess what? I’m broke my f&%#in’ leg,” Dave said to the crowd, beginning to tell the now-famous tale of his incident at a live show in Sweden a month prior. Showing video footage of the accident along with an x-ray of his broken bone and detailed hand-drawn blueprints for the rock and roll throne that has allowed him to continue the tour without cancelling shows, Dave poked fun at himself and proved he wasn’t going to let such a small mishap hold him or his band back from giving fans what they want. The band then played a “love song version” of “Big Me”, which Dave dedicated to the Foo Fighters road crew that helped to keep the “Broken Leg Tour” rolling strong.

Finishing two more numbers, “Congregation” and “Walk”, Dave introduced the band members, each of them playing a short riff for the crowd. Van Halen for Shiflett, Queen for Mendel, and Alice Cooper for Smear. After a bit of stage banter reminding the crowd that Foo Fighters played the very first ever Fuji Rock Festival, it was time to slow things down and Dave, Pat and Chris came to the front of the stage for quiet acoustic versions of “My Hero” and “Times Like These”.

Rejoining the band for a cover of Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure,” they led into a final streak of hits, including an extended version of “Outside” and the rowdy “Breakout”, then finished things off strongly with “Best of You”.

Promising that Foo Fighters would return to Japan again sooner rather than later, Dave announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen. First time in seven years. Tonight is for you.”

SETLIST:

Everlong
Monkey Wrench
Learn to Fly
Something From Nothing
The Pretender
Big Me
Congregation
Walk
Band Introduction (I’m the One / Another One Bites the Dust / Schools Out)
Cold Day in the Sun
My Hero (Acoustic)
Times Like These (Acoustic)
Under Pressure
All My Life
Outside
Breakout
Best of You

More live photo coverage in part two, here.